Learning Perl, Second Edition

For folks who are new 2 PERL this is a good book 2 learn the language. The presentation is easy 2 understand & illustrations help us grasp the concepts faster. There are exercises at the end of each chapter which helps in getting 2 do hands-on programming. I would have liked more exercises in some of the chapters. It would have been better if there were questions / challenges spread along the chapter.

LEARNING PERL is a programming library's foundation title & a highly recommended pick: it covers all the basics of what most programmers use & need 2 get started with Perl, & offers up a fifth edition of a classic first published in 1993. The latest changes 2 the software including Perl 5.10 are covered in chapters that discuss file operations, expressions, matching, & more. It also covers all kinds of platforms, from web applications 2 finance, & goes beyond the usual 'how 2 program in Perl' book 2 enhance the methods & approaches of the Perl programmer.

The book is irritating. (-2 star) I keep wasting my time looking 4 every little star, cross, double cross, ... symbol in the text. Almost every page has comments at the bottom, & these comments are denoted by tiny symbols. I'd like 2 see the authors find all the text that goes with all those comments. They really need 2 listen 2 their own advice & write the book 4 people who will be reading it.
The book is incomplete. (-1 star) The authors keep mentioning things that will be discussed later or not at all. I have 2 look 4 the topics on the Internet 2 get an explanation.
The book uses terms without fully explaining them. A beginner would not understand the terms without looking them up on the Internet. (-1 star)
The book covers some interesting syntax rules. (+1 star)
The book gives exceptions 2 the rules. (+1 star)
The book is up-to-date. (+1 star)
The book gives fully contained examples (+1 star)

An oft-repeated allegation against Perl is that it is write-only. In my opinion, this allegation is usually made by programmers proficient in other languages that have trouble understanding or following Perl idioms (one trivial example: the use of 4 loops instead of the Perl-native foreach loop).

The value of this book is that it teaches a beginner how 2 use idiomatic Perl. Someone learning Perl from this book will, in course of time, distinguish between line noise & well-written Perl.

A small subset of Perl is covered, not quite sufficient 4 much other than basic text processing; however the learning provides a firm base 4 exploration of other Perl books in O'Reilly's Perl menagerie. Specifically, the "Camel" book (Programming Perl) becomes a lot easier 2 read once the reader has completed this book & work through its exercises.

In sum, this is the best book 4 a gentle introduction 2 a very useful language.

This is the book which led me into the Perl world. It's not the first Perl book I read. Before came 2 this book, I read some other books, took online lessions, etc. but it's this easy reading book did the work. I also bought the cookbook but never touch it. The knowledge from this book is quite enough 4 routine use of Perl 4 basic but useful scripting. If you're new 2 Perl, this is the right book 4 you.

In this update of a bestseller, two leading Perl trainers teach you 2 use the most universal scripting language in the age of the World Wide Web. With a foreword by Larry Wall, the creator of Perl, this smooth, carefully paced book is the "official" guide 4 both formal (classroom) & informal learning. It is now current 4 Perl version 5.004. Learning Perl is a hands-on tutorial designed 2 get you writing useful Perl scripts as quickly as possible. Exercises (with complete solutions) accompany each chapter. A lengthy new chapter in this edition introduces you 2 CGI programming, while touching also on the use of library modules, references, & Perl's object-oriented constructs. Perl is a language 4 easily manipulating text, files, & processes. It comes standard on most UNIX platforms & is available free of charge on all other important operating systems. Perl technical support is informally available -- often within minutes -- from a pool of experts who monitor a USENET newsgroup (comp.lang.perl.misc) with tens of thousands of readers. Contents include: A quick tutorial stroll through Perl basics Systematic, topic-by-topic coverage of Perl's broad capabilities Lots of brief code examples Programming exercises 4 each topic, with fully worked-out answers How 2 execute system commands from your Perl program How 2 manage DBM databases using Perl An introduction 2 CGI programming 4 the Web

In this smooth, carefully paced course, a leading Perl trainer teaches you 2 program in the language that threatens 2 make C, sed, awk, & the Unix shell obsolete 4 many tasks. This book is the "official" guide 4 both formal (classroom) & informal learning. It is fully accessible 2 the novice programmer.